Method of making welts and the resultant product.



METHOD 0 .Hw

G WELT A i `SULTANT PRODUCT.

PPUcMeaN 0 .1918.

Batented Feb. 4, 1919.

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HARRY LYON, 0F. BROCKTGN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 JOHN A. BARBOUR AND tPEBLEY E. BARBOUR, BOTH UNDER THE FIRM-NAME AND 0F BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, DOING BUSINESS STYLE 0F BROCKTON RAND COMPANY.

METHOD OF MAKING WELTS AND THE RESULTANT PRODUCT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 4;, 1919.

Application tiled August 29, 1918. Serial No. 251,886.

T o N wim/n if may concern Be. it known that` I, Hanni' Lrox, ariti- Zen of the lvnited States, residing at Brockton. in the county of Plymouth and State of llfassachusetts, have invented new aml useful lmprovements. in Methods of Making lVlts and the Resultaat Product, of which the following is a specification. The present invention relates to welting for use in the manufacture `of boots` and Shoes, and is concerned with a mode of producing two welts from a strip of leather, or of any other material which may be suitable for welting, by which economy ot' material 1s secured without sacrifice of strength or any other desirable quality of the finished welt. In other words the object of my invention is to produce welts equal to the best heretofore produced in a manner which effects a saving of material.

The invention consists in the novel method of making welts. and in the product resulting therefrom hereinafter described and particularly pointed ont in the appended claims. In the. drawings forming a part of thlsspecification,

Figure 1 is a plan view of part of a strip adapted to furnish two welts according to the )resent invention. Fig. 2 is an end view ef tie strip. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one surface of the strip after the same has been grooved. Fig. 4 is an end view of the same Strip after grooving, but on an enlarged scale, showing the location of the eut on which the strip is divided to form two welts. Figs. 5 and 6 are similar views of the two Welts after being separated from one another. Fig. 7 is a similar view of the welt shown in Fig. 6 after having been brought to approximately the form which it possesses when it. has been stitched to the upper and innersole in a shoe. Fig. 8 is a cross sectlonal View of a lasted shoe showing the innersole upper and welt connected together by the inseam. Fig. 9 is an end view of a Welt heretofore commonly used.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

For economy of words it will be assulned in the following description thatthe imiterial operated upon accordingr to lily method t0 malte welting is leather, wherefore it will generally be so described. This fact, how- A is not intended as in any wise a limitation as to the material which might be used. 0n the. contrary the method and product which I desire to protect herein are imlcpendent of material, and may be respectively practised upon and made of any material whatever which is or may be suitable for welts.

I first take a strip a of leather or other material which is much wider than a single welt. but is narrower than the snm of the widths ot' the two welts to be made therefrom. In case the. welts are to be provided with stitching grooves, I form two longitudinal grooves I), c in the flesh side of the strip on opposite sides of the longitudinal center line and equally distant from the op )osite edges. I then cnt the strip lengthwise y an alignlar cnt 1I, d. which is V-shaped in cross section but extends substantially without deviation from one end of the strip to the other. The point or vertex c of the V-shaped cut is approximately midway between the opposite faces of thestrip, while the sides of the cut extend therefrom on opposite inclinations toward these faces. Preferably such sides make. e nal angles with the faces of the strip, anti preferably also such angles al'e approximately l5 degrees. f'hen both welts are to have the same finished width. as is usually the case. the cut as a whole is located as nearly as possible midway between the opposite edges of the strip, the vertex e being then at one side of the vertical medial plane of the strip, the location of which is indicated by the dotted line m-p in Figs. 3 and 4, and both sides of the cut: crossing and being biseeted by such medial plane. It will be understood of course that the straight lines represented and (1 in Fig. 4 indicate the planes which Ithave here called the sides ofthe cnt. The point c where these lilies meet is the vertex ot' the cnt. lloth welts are symmetrical in the sense that (excluding the stitching grooves) the portions ot' cach on opposite sides of the horizontal middle plane are alike.

In case the welts are not required to have a stitching groove. the step of groovirig prior to cutting may be omitted. or in any case the grooving operation may be performed ou the separate welts after they have been cut and separated. The result of the operationsthus described is to produce two welts, f and ,rf of which thel former is V-shapcd or has a V-shaped rih h at one edge, this being the edge which lies next to the inseam when the welt is applied to the, shoe; and the other has a longitudinal V-shaped groove complemcntal to such rib at the corresponding edge. The, lips and Lf bounding this groove are adapted to he brought together into what is substantially a V-shaped rib similar to the rib h of the welt f, as shown in Fig. T.

Said lips may be thus brought together and retained by adhesive, if desired, prior to the application of the welt to a shoe, or they may be, left separated. Even if left in this condition. the lips will be brought more or less closely together by the welt guide of the inseam stitcher when the welt is applied, and in any event that lip which is placed next to the shoe upper in the application ot' the welt is bent so that the stitches of the inseam will be sure to lie in a part of the welt which has sutiicient thickness and strength. ln other words the formation of the V- shaped groove in the inner edge of welt g does not diminish the thickness of the part of the welt in which the stitches are sewed, and therefore does notv lnake it any less strong than wclts which are made without any such groove. Likewise the beveling of the welt f by the V-shaped eut does not weaken the latter, because as will be seen from Fig. 8, the stitches of the inseam pass through that part of the welt which is not diminished in width by suoli beveling. In

deed theI bevel formed by that side of the cut designated as d is of advantage in that it enables the welt to fit snugly the outer lip angle of the innersole, as is shown by Fig. 8; and the same effect occurs in the case of the welt g b reason of the groove in its edge which al ows the li k to conform itself t/o the same anffle. AES a matter of fact the welts heretothre used have been commonly beveled in substantially the manner shown at l in Fig. 9 (which represents a form of welt heretofore in wide use) for this very purpose.

The beneficial result accomplished by this invention is' thatl each finished welt, While havin the requisite total width, is more than ialf the width of the strip a, and the sum of the over-all widths of both strips is greater than thetotal width of strip a. The amount by which such sum exceeds the width of the original strip is the measure of the saving of material accomplished by the invention; and while it is greater or less in absoluteamount for welts of different thicknesses and widths, proportionally it is substantially the same 1n all cases.

'In making the previously used welts shown in Fig. 9, the'welt is cut with a rectangular cross section, whereby the width of any strip from which such welts are iliade is equal to the sum of all the welts cut from it. Then one corner is cuty otl' to form the bevel l, preparatory to use. and the part so cut otl becomes waste. After the welt. has been stitched on and when the inseam is trimmed, the opposite corner n at thc same edge is trimmed off more or less nearly to the dotted line. shown in Fig. 9,"und is wasted also. Thus with my invention the wasted corners of the old type of welt are in effect. saved and made integral parts of the new welt, which latter may be made identical in dimensions, proportions, and shape' with the old welt. and at the same time two of them are produced from a strip which has less than enough material to make two welts by the old method.

lVhat l claim and desire to secure by Letters latent is:

1. The method of making welts` which consists in providing a strip of material, and dividing the same lengthwise by a medial V-shap'cd cut, thereby producing two welts of which the width ot cach is more than half the total width of said strip.`

2. The method ot' making welts which consists in first providing a strip of material having a width less than the total width of two welts to be produced therefrom, and then dividing the strip into two parts by a longitudinal eut which is V-shaped in cross section, and of which the opposite sides make approximately equal angles with the opposite faces of the strip respectively.

3. The method of makingr welts which consists in dividing a strip of material into two parts on planes which extend at substantially eq'ual angles and on respectively opposite inclinations from the opposite broad faces of the strip and meet approximately midway between such faces, said planes extending also longitudinally of the strip.

4. The method of making welts which consists in providin a strip and dividing the same longitudina ly into two welts, each havin a total width of more than half the width o the entire strip, by cuttingthe same with a V-shaped out, the vertex of which is ap proximately midway between the broad faces of thestrip at one medial plane, and the sides of which extend on approximately equal angles to such faces and cross such medial plane.

5. A welt formed Wlth a longitudinal V- shaped groove in one edge, the lips thinking.

such groove being similar to one another and bent together forming a double-beveled edge. In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my HARRY LYON.

y signature.

side of the longitudinal' 

